Baker, CA - Western Electric 1C2 coin phone in a pre-1969 Bell System enclosure. This phone is in front of the Wills Fargo Motel. It accepts incoming calls. (760) 733-9971 Mojave, CA - Western Electric 1C2 coin phones in old aluminum phone booths. These phones are at one of the truck stops along Sierra Highway. They accept incoming calls. (661) 824-9936 and (661) 824-9824 Boron, CA - Automatic Electric 120-type single-slot coin phone in a GTE booth at 5852 Highway 58; It accepts incoming calls. (760) 762-9917 Santa Monica, CA - A Northern Telecom Millennium coin phone next to an old Automatic Electric 120-type single-slot at the south entrance of Santa Monica College. This is another example of the phenomenon I like to call "GTE is stupid." These phones accept incoming calls but I neglected to write down the numbers.
Las Vegas, NV - A bank of Millenniums in the Bellagio; these phones are across from the restrooms off of the shopping area. They're run by a COCOT operator called GoldenTel Communications. Oddly enough, inside a casino is the only place I've ever seen the Millenniums finished in gold. These phones accept incoming calls. Their numbers are: Las Vegas, NV - Two more Millenniums operated by GoldenTel, this time in the Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas strip. In this photo, the power to these phones is out, so I was unable to see if they accept incoming calls. My guess is that they behave like the other Millenniums in the mall and do not accept incoming calls. (702) 312-8791 and (702) 312-8787.
Las Vegas, NV - This bank of Nortel Millenniums is in the Luxor hotel. They're by the inclinator at the left end of the front desk, which would place them in the Northeast corner of the hotel. They are, as far as I can tell, the only three Millenniums (and the only three operated by the ILEC, for that matter) in the hotel. The rest of the payphones are Protel COCOTs like this one. The Millennium on the left had filled up with coins when I took the photo, and the display read COIN SERVICE is not available. Like all Millenniums owned and operated by Central Telephone Company of Nevada (Sprint), these three accept incoming calls. Their numbers are: San Francisco, CA - Western Electric 2C2 and 1D2 payphones at Embarcadero Center. The 1D2 is obviously a post-divestiture phone, since by that time Western Electric had discontinued the 2C and 2D series panel phones and it was cheaper just to come up with a cover plate for the 1C and 1D phones. Also note the really cool phone directory shelf between the phones. The phones accept incoming calls. (415) 362-9173 and (415) 986-9711.
Pleasant Hill, CA - Western Electric 1C2 payphones in Bell System payphone enclosures at Diablo Valley College. The enclosures have large Bell logos on the sides. They accept incoming calls. Their numbers are: Pleasant Hill, CA - Another Western Electric single-slot in a pre-1969 Bell System enclosure at Diablo Valley College. It accepts incoming calls. (925) 680-9488. San Francisco, CA - Pacific Bell provides parade-goers on Market Street the best seat in the house. People can still use the phone, but it's amazing how much weight these payphone enclosures will support. I did not write down the numbers. San Francisco, CA - Western Electric 1C2 phone converted into a Charge-A-Call. This phone is at one of the MUNI stations along Market Street, but it does not accept incoming calls and so I didn't write down the number.
Las Vegas, NV - a bank of Nortel Millennium phones at the Las Vegas Convention Center. These phones were, as far as I can remember, at one time owned by Sprint (although I could be wrong), but now it seems that they are owned and operated by GoldenTel. Note the little grey box to the left of the bank of payphones. The cover comes off quite easily, exposing the punchdown block where all the payphone lines for that bank come through. They all accept incoming calls. The payphone numbers are, from left to right:
Las Vegas, NV - More Nortel Millenniums at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with yet another easy-to-access punchdown enclosure. They all accept incoming calls. The numbers are, from left to right:
Las Vegas, NV - Even more Millenniums at the convention center. The instruction card seems to imply that somehow the Las Vegas Convention Center owns and operates the payphone, although if you read, it becomes apparent that GoldenTel is the owner and operator. Surprisingly, local coin calls from these phones are just 35 cents! These phones also accept incoming calls, and their numbers are, from left to right:
Las Vegas, NV - Yet more Millenniums at the convention center, this time by a window (ooooh!) and with another easily accessible grey punchdown enclosure. They accept incoming calls, and the numbers are:
Las Vegas, NV - A bank of Millenniums at the Venetian hotel and casino. The third one from the left is a rather interesting variety of Millennium I've never seen before with a big screen rather than an instruction card. There are nine payphones in this bank, with every group of three separated by the hotel's house phone. They all accept incoming calls. The numbers are, from left to right: Las Vegas, NV - Millenniums at the entrance to the Venetian casino's employment center, which is kind of inconspicuously shoehorned into the casino's mall. They accept incoming calls; here's a bonus photo of one of them ringing in spanish. (702) 731-9854 and (702) 731-9857. Las Vegas, NV - Millenniums at the entrance to the restrooms off of the Venetian casino's food court. They accept incoming calls. (702) 731-9906 and (702) 731-9905. Las Vegas, NV - Millennium at the passenger pick-up area of McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, NV. Outdoor Millenniums are very rare in Las Vegas. This phone accepts incoming calls; its number is (702) 736-9577. Las Vegas, NV - eMillennium at the top of the escalators running from ticketing to the main gates at McCarran International. It does not seem to take incoming calls, but the number is (702) 798-9151. Las Vegas, NV - Millenniums at the exit to the baggage claim area. Like many banks of phones at the airport, the courtesy phone takes one of the three possible phone locations and the Millenniums take the other three. They take incoming calls. The numbers are (702) 736-9032, (702) 736-9666, and (702) 736-9073 (not visible) for the leftmost bank, and (702) 736-9110, (702) 736-9600, and (702) 736-9658 (not visible) for the rightmost bank. Las Vegas, NV - Millennium at the airport parking garage elevators. It takes incoming calls. (702) 798-9006. Las Vegas, NV - Mix 'n Match COCOTs courtesy of GoldenTel at the Peppermill restaurant on Las Vegas Boulevard (i.e. "The Strip" for all you touristy types) opposite the Stardust hotel / casino. This is a quality installation; notice the exposed wire leading to the leftmost phone. The Millennium in the center receives incoming calls. (702) 314-6137, (702) 314-6169, and (702) 314-6136. Las Vegas, NV - a Protel Ascension payphone outside of Sam's Club just up the street from the West 6 central office. This phone, oddly enough, is owned by Sprint, although if you ask me, it's a rather lousy imitation of a Nortel Millennium. The vault door has the Sprint logo on it, which is unusual for this area (no one's vault door has anything molded into it in vegas), and just for kicks, here's the instruction card with Sprint's ripoff collect call number on it. I believe the phone takes incoming calls but the ringer on the thing is so pathetic that it's not even worth calling. (702) 252-5124. Los Angeles, CA - "This is the very library where I studied Bell Labs Technical Records and Journals, and the Automatic Electric Journal," writes Mark Bernay, who sent in this photo of a payphone in the UCLA library. It's a Millennium owned by Verizon, although when Mark Bernay studied there it was probably an Automatic Electric three-slot payphone. The Millennium set has a yellow handset indicating that the carrier has a deal with Phone1 to carry its coin toll calls less expensively (don't ask me why, since Verizon supposedly does its own long distance). I think the number on the payphone is (310) 474-9390, although the number is just barely legible in the photo. I also don't know whether it takes incoming calls. If you go to UCLA, please email me and let me know more about the phone. Las Vegas, NV - Yet more Millenniums at the convention center. The center phone is a coin-only millennium, but the power is out in this photo, granting the user access to the line's real dial tone. These phones do accept incoming calls. (702) 953-3060, (702) 953-3214, and (702) 953-3213. Dangling Rope, UT - This is a bizarre little payphone owned and operated by none other than the infamous Beehive Telephone Company. This phone only lets you dial toll-free calls (but 866 numbers didn't work when I used it in summer 2003), and any call generates an ANI failure, so when you call 800-CALL-ATT, you get a recording saying "AT&T, may I have the number you're calling from, please?" but AT&T has no idea how to handle it. All they do is ask you to hang up and try again. Given the ANI failure and the lack of a posted number on the phone, the phone probably doesn't have a telephone number of any sort, but if it did, it would be (435) 661-xxxx. Sacramento, CA - Pacific Bell payphones in booths at 222 Jibboom in Sacramento. These have the yellow Phone1 handsets; here are closeups of the phone, the instruction card, the sticker on the side, and the bottom instruction card. The one phone I did take close photos of appears to be (916) 448-8443. Call it, and if someone answers, get them to tell you the numbers of the other phones...then please email them to me :) San Francisco, CA - Pacific Bell payphones on Castro St. at 20th St. in San Francisco that accept incoming calls. (415) 621-9708 is the phone visible in the photo; (415) 621-9123 is the phone facing away from the camera. San Francisco, CA - Pacific Bell payphones on 19th St. at Castro St. in San Francisco with Bell logos embossed into the chrome front of the surprisingly new-looking Western Electric housings. Incoming calls are accepted; (415) 864-9263 and (415) 864-9315. Oakland, CA - Western Electric 2C2 or 2D2 payphone at the Mexicali Rose restaurant. It's inside a room with a door, which is unusual. Even more unusual is the door to the booth which is indescribably cool. It takes incoming calls, too, although if you're not in the little payphone room you won't hear it ring. (510) 832-9021. Concord, CA - The interior of a vintage 1981 Western Electric 1C2 phone. In case you're lost, here's a handy guide. Las Vegas, NV - A Nortel desktop Millennium payphone by the registration desk at the J W Marriott hotel. It's the first one I've seen that has the official Nortel attention-getting desk pad and sign - honestly, it looks like it should actually be at a telecom trade show rather than in a hotel, but who am I to judge? It takes incoming calls, and the number is (702) 838-9570. Las Vegas, NV - Sprint appears to be getting into the gold-toned Millennium fad, but not to the extent that GoldenTel seems to have done it. These phones are right at the entrance to the casino, and they take incoming calls. (702) 838-9562 and (702) 838-9564.
Las Vegas, NV - GoldenTel Millenniums at the entrance to the elevator bank of the MGM Grand Hotel. Here, GoldenTel seems to have gone with slightly more traditional Millennium coloring, even if the card reader and the ID bezel are still black with gold printing. They all take incoming calls, and there's major foot traffic past these phones all the time. The phone off past the left edge of the picture is (702) 736-9718, and the ones in the photo are: Las Vegas, NV - Another Millennium inside the MGM Grand StudioWalk (kind of a dull excuse for a shopping center / food court). It takes incoming calls. (702) 704-8378. Las Vegas, NV - Two Millenniums in a concealed entryway behind the MGM Grand tour desk that also take incoming calls. (702) 736-9648 and (702) 736-9805.
Las Vegas, NV - Off the casino in the MGM Grand, the phones are all relegated to these little rooms which were obviously never designed to be full of chairs. In here are a mix of payphones and house phones. One of the payphones has mysteriously tasteful graffiti on it AND had a dollar sitting in the coin return (lucky me!). This particular bank of payphones is by the security desk, and they all accept incoming calls. Their numbers are:
Las Vegas, NV - This bank of Millenniums at the MGM is right by the bell desk at the main entrance to the hotel, and they all take incoming calls. Call on the weekend and you're bound to get some drunk college student or bewildered foreigner answering one of these phones. In case you're wondering why all of these casino photos dont show more of the casino, it's because the hotels tend to be very picky about what you take photographs of (because, god forbid, you're going to steal their architectural secrets), and when you're writing down all the payphone numbers, security tends to think you're weird enough already.
Las Vegas, NV - More GoldenTel Millenniums (are you getting sick of this yet?), this time at the Palms Casino, by the food court and the movie theatres. Supposedly, the Las Vegas 2600 meetings occur here (I've never been). The weird graffiti artist from the MGM reappears here, but this time his graffiti is on the number card, which is almost impossible to get access to if you don't have access to the inside of the payphone (apologies for the poor quality of the image; the lighting there is not good). You can call these phones:
Las Vegas, NV - These Millenniums are at the hallway that runs just past the Poker Room and into the restrooms. You can call them:
Las Vegas, NV - Two more Millenniums right inside the casino. There's a slot machine just past the left edge of this photo. Call them: Sierra Village, CA - A Western Electric single-slot (probably a 1D2) at 24967 Highway 108. Apart from maintenance and upkeep, this phone has remained unchanged since it was installed, apparently in 1984. Hell, even the number card has been there forever. It rings, but consider yourself lucky if there's anyone there to answer it. (209) 586-9912
Las Vegas, NV - The lobby of the main Centel Nevada (Sprint) office building. This is what Sprint's number cards look like. As I was leaving the building, I noticed this particularly spooky remnant of the old Centel logo burned into the window tint. There are three Millenniums in the lobby, and you can call them and talk to either telephone company employees or bewildered customers:
Los Angeles, CA - A bank of Western 1C2s at Philippe's in downtown Los Angeles. Note the awesome old booths. The rightmost phone has been disconnected. The other phones, however, are still working, and are:
Long Beach, CA - Some old GTE booths at a Chevron station. The center phone has the old skinny GTE touchtone buttons. Fear the General Telephone System and beware of falling signs, but most importantly, call the phones:
Carson, CA - Payphones at everyone's favorite store for cheap, stylish, easy-to-assemble Swedish home furnishings, IKEA! Call and ask how the meatballs were: Santa Monica, CA - OK, so it's not a payphone, but it's one of GTE's (oh wait, sorry, Verizon's) three Santa Monica central offices; this one is at 1314 7th Street. Yes yes, vestiges of General still remain, but unfortunately not the old step that used to be here.
Santa Monica, CA - AE 120 payphones just down the street from the above CO, round the corner from a 7-11; they ring quite loudly.
Pacific Palisades, CA - The Central Office and the payphones in front of it. This office serves the 310-454 prefix, in which is located the famous GLadstone's 4 FISH restaurant (I will not, however, tell you what their telephone number is). You can call the payphones:
Pacific Palisades, CA - Payphone in a booth up the street from the CO, near Bay Pharmacy. It rings:
Pacific Palisades, CA - This one is on Sunset Boulevard; note the awesome old hardware store sign. It also rings. Pacific Palisades, CA - No payphones here, but a little bit of GTE and Automatic Electric goodness. Santa Monica, CA - Verizon Millennium phones on the Third Street Promenade. No incoming calls though. Santa Monica, CA - An old GTE manhole cover.
Santa Monica, CA - At first glance, this AE 120 on Ocean Avenue seems to be your typical find in GTE territory. But something is different about this phone - note that the handset has a seam down the back. Surprisingly, it's an original Automatic Electric handset. Once this gets broken, it's never getting replaced with an identical handset. No incoming calls, sadly, so you can't ask passersby if you're being a pain in the neck. </Automatic Electric handset joke>
Santa Monica, CA - These phones are right at the entrance to the famous Santa Monica Pier. They take incoming calls, but their acceptance is somewhat unpredictable.
Santa Monica, CA - Just up the street from the pier are some more Millennnium phones at McDonald's (*shudder*). These seem to be just as spastic about ringing as the phones on the pier.
Santa Monica, CA - Nortel phones at the entrance to the Santa Monica Place mall. Happily, they ring loudly, as Millennium phones are keen to do.
Santa Monica, CA - Millennium phones inside the mall that ring, which is great in areas where there's high foot traffic.
Santa Monica, CA - Panel-mount Millenniums (Millennia?) in the mall's hallway to the restrooms off the food court. When I was there, there was a long line for the womens' restroom...so I guess you can call the phones and torment the bystanders with the sounds of running water. If you're evil like that, of course. Santa Monica, CA - In the Year 2000... Santa Monica, CA - It's a payphone in a booth! In the city! Pity I was rounding the corner and didnt have time to stop and get the number. Victorville, CA - Now, thanks to Contel, you can PHONE FROM CAR! When you're driving through on I-15, look for this building and you can PHONE FROM CAR too!
Baker, CA - White Western Electric single-slots at the gas station adjoining the Bun Boy restaurant. They ring.
De Forest, WI - XinE sent in these photos of a Northern Electric Centurion payphone finished in chocolate brown. Centurions are the typical dumb phone of most of the Canadian telephone companies as well as a large number of independent telephone companies in the United States. The brown cover is completely removable and replaceable, presumably to make it easier to keep the phone looking good in areas where it may be subjected to vandalism. This particular phone is inside the CenturyTel central office building at 145 East Holum St, De Forest, WI 53532. It accepts incoming calls. Las Vegas, NV - While I wouldn't say that this was necessarily inevitable, the color does make some sense given that these are payphones. These phones are at Jay's Mini Mart on Eastern near I-215.
Pacific Palisades, CA - Payphones at the beach...but these aren't just any payphones; they're the payphones at GLadstone's 4-FISH! (See, I told you I wasn't making the place up) Interestingly enough, they're running a trial where local calls are 25c for one minute or 50c for an unlimited amount of time. The phones accept incoming calls. Victorville, CA - Don't drink and drive and phone from car.
Baker, CA - Although Baker has no official time and temperature number, you can ask whoever is standing at this phone to read the temperature to you off of the world's tallest thermometer.
Los Angeles, CA - It's a phone booth tucked away at 1479 S La Cienega for no apparent reason at all. It shouldn't be there - the thing is covered in graffiti and the ringer doesnt work. Even the SBC truck doesn't seem to care. I'm not exactly sure why, when given the choice, people use COCOTS anyway...
West Hollywood, CA - Someone must have either been seriously ticked off at this payphone or seriously tweaked out of their mind.
West Los Angeles, CA - Two Verizon AE 120 single-slots in a little motel right next to the West Los Angeles central office. The rightmost phone has those oh-so-weird skinny touchtone buttons. They accept incoming calls.
Santa Monica, CA - Here's that booth I found earlier; it's on the corner of 4th and Broadway, right across the corner from the Santa Monica Place mall. Nice single-slot GTE AE 120 in there, it rings loudly, and you can talk to people. The angles of this photo quite intrigued me.
Santa Monica, CA - Just up the street from the booth is this payphone that also takes incoming calls. It also appears to be operated by the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. Perhaps you should call it and claim to be a space alien. Los Angeles, CA - The Pacific Bell van is my favorite telephone company van, and I'm quite sad that this may be the very last high-resolution photo i get of one. Intersection of La Cienega and (I believe) Olympic, 11 Sept 2004.
Santa Monica, CA - This is not a payphone; it is the office building at 100 Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica (if the City of Santa Monica did not re-number its street addresses and instead continued the numbering scheme used by the City of Los Angeles, then this building's address might be closer to something like 16000 or 18000 Wilshire). It was, at one point, a major GTE office building, although GTE vacated it a number of years ago. There is no building west of it; it overlooks the Pacific Ocean as well as a long thin stretch of park along the Santa Monica Bluffs where one can find people with weird tattoos, joggers and crazy old people (this particular old person was clapping at 120 claps per minute for no apparent reason), and payphones on which you can talk not only to these weird patrons of the park, but to the crazy homeless people who live in the park. This phone, which is the closest one to the building, does have incoming service, although the ringer is disconnected; its number is (310) 319-3774. These phones are a short walk north of the first payphone and also have incoming service; the one on the left rings and the one on the right doesnt. Their numbers are
Nantes, QC - This is the booth from which Evan Doorbell recorded the very last step-by-step switching office in the North American public switched telephone network in August, 2001 (listen to recordings 1, 2, and 3 from phonetrips.com). Unfortunately, it seems that since the office cut over to a DMS-10 in mid-2002, the old Centurion coin phone has been replaced by a Nortel Millennium set. As you can probably guess, I didn't take these photos - I found them at http://www.barraclou.com/payphone/, which has lots of interesting phones on it. The number for this payphone has been moved from the 3 thousands group it lived in while on the step to the 9 thousands group where it should have been all along. When I called this phone on 28 February 2005, it didn't seem to ring like an active line or go to intercept like a disconnected line; it exhibited a half-speed busy signal (30 IPM). It's worth calling, though.
Glendale, AZ - Three Qwest Millennium phones outside a mini-mart on Bell Road at 78th. Two of the USWest signs have not been replaced (USQwest, perhaps?), but these are otherwise fairly typical for the area. Here are detail shots of the phone in the booth, the phone itself, the instruction card, the speed dial buttons (oddly enough, the buttons labeled "$" and "$$" don't do anything), and the directory cover. The phones do not accept incoming calls, but at least Qwest has a recording that actually tells you this and doesn't just pretend like you've hit a disconnected number.
Phoenix, AZ - Four Qwest Millennium phones at a gas station at 1200 S Buckeye St. Fairly typical with the no incoming calls thing, except this time Qwest has recordings that pretend like the numbers are disconnected. The phones are, from left to right: Pasadena, CA - Here's a typical Western Electric single-slot in one of those enclosures that makes it look like a panel phone. I'm sure you've wondered what the phone looks like when the panel is opened up. I did too, and so I discovered the answer: dusty beyond anyone's wildest imagination.
West Hollywood, CA - Western Electric 1C2 or 1D2 payphone in the men's restroom at Barney's Beanery, the third-oldest restaurant in Los Angeles. This is a happening place - karaoke, beer, good food, and billiards. The phone rings nice and loud, so you can talk to a procession of increasingly drunk patrons as the night wears on. Pyongyang, North Korea - No, I'm not kidding. TProphet took this photo. Hannover, Germany - Deutsche Telekom payphones at the EXPO 2000 World's Fair.
Santa Monica, CA - A Verizon Millennium set inside Border's Books on 3rd Street. It is very quiet inside the store. The Millennium set rings very loudly. I wonder what would happen if you dialed it.
Los Angeles, CA - Western Electric 2C2 set in the entrance lobby of an office building on Century and La Cienega near the airport. It accepts incoming calls.
Pomona, CA - AE 120 single-slots at the entrance to the Pomona Fairplex, home of (among other things) the Los Angeles County Fair. Surprisingly, the Los Angeles County Fair has all the trappings of a real county fair, including the animals, the amazingly unhealthy food, and the weird exhibits. It also has phones that accept incoming calls!
Pomona, CA - More phones at the Fairplex; these are near the other side of the main entrance. These are great to call when there are events going on, since tons of people walk by constantly.
Pomona, CA - Inside the exhibit halls are Millennium sets....and fudge. |
